Dias Festival 2-5 Feb 2012

The Portuguese nobleman and explorer Bartholomeu Dias was appointed on 10 October 1487 to head an an expedition to sail around the southern tip of Africa in the hope of finding a trade route to India.

Dias and his fleet eventually entered what he named Aguada de São Brás (Bay of Saint Blaise) - later renamed Mossel Bay after the abundance of mussels in the bay - on 3 February 1488. Legend has it that they went ashore at what is nowthe Munro/Santos beach area, apparently close to fountain on the site of the present Bartholomeu Dias museum complex, and met the indigenous people of the region to replenish the fleet’s provisions.

This date is therefore of great significance in the context of the history of South Africa as we know it today. It is generally accepted as the first ever contact between Europeans and the indigenous people on South African soil – a true meeting of African and European cultures therefore.

The 500th anniversary of Dias’s landing was celebrated with a major festival in 1988, but the commemoration of the landing of Dias at Mossel Bay has been sporadic well as on a much smaller scale since then. With its theme of “Where Cultures Meet,” the 2012 Dias Festival, organised under the auspices of the Mossel Bay Municipality, will be the biggest Dias Festival for more than a decade.